Hurdle
by Hse Hissie
Summary: Amelia ends up in sickbay after a fight against her inner demons.


**AN. I do not own Star Trek or any of the Characters. **

'Amelia, you need to stop, you are wearing a track into the ground.'

I looked down instinctively even though I knew that my thirty minutes of pacing could not have done as my companion had suggested. Glancing up I realised just who my companion was, Doctor Leonard McCoy, the Acting Chief Medical Officer, one of my best friends and of course, my boss.

'I thought you were supposed to be resting before our shift, sir,' I asked timidly, ashamed that my boss had caught me pacing.

'I got a bit worried when my fellow doctor did not turn up for her shift.'

'Sir, our shift does not start for another...' I stopped, realising that I did not know the time. Noticing my pause, McCoy finished my statement.

'Amelia, it is one and a half hours into our shift...'

'Shit! I am really sorry sir. It will not happen again. I turned around to head towards the turbo lift but McCoy's hands on my shoulders stopped my spin.

'Amelia, wait. That was not the reason why I came looking for you, I am worried. Jim is worried. You have not been right since we escaped from the Narada. What is wrong?' his face was sincere with concern, his eyes gentle. This was not a side of him I was used to, not the brash, abrupt doctor who I had come to respect. This man scared me.

I slowly backed away from McCoy, memories from my past bubbling up to the surface. My heart racing as my visual of McCoy, a man who respected, liked and trusted, morphed into the man who scared me the most, my ex-boyfriend from hell. He was predictable when angry, frightening and abusive when quiet and gentle.

I started to shake from the memories and silent tears flooded from my eyes as I gave into the fear. McCoy advanced, his hands open out, in an attempt to placate me of my irrational delusion, however I could shake it. I backed myself into a corner and slid to the ground, clutching my arms around my knees.

McCoy advanced further and I cringed into the wall, my deluded vision firmly in place. My breath laboured and heavy, he reached toward me but I could not move back any further, when his hand was a few inches away from my head, I closed my eyes waiting for the pain from the imminent slap or punch, instead I felt a small prick and my vision faded to black.

Opening my eyes to the clean white lights of the sickbay, my delusion of my past had faded into my memory and my irrational fear of McCoy had disappeared also, although my fear had been replaced by a fury because he had drugged me to sleep.

Looking down to my chronometer, I realised two things, one, someone had taken my chronometer and two; someone had replaced it with a shiny, metal alloy bracelet with no opening. The bracelet was about an inch wide and was just smaller than my fist so I could not slid it off.

McCoy approached slowly and cautiously making sure that I could see him. I nodded but put on my fiercest and dirtiest glare onto my face. He cringed but then smirked when he worked out why I was angry.

As he sauntered over I spoke icily. 'Empty your pockets of all hypo sprays and vials, McCoy or I will...'

'You will what, Doctor? For one thing, I am your commanding officer; two, you are on medical leave for at least the next twenty-four hours; three, I don't really give a shit what you think since you don't tell me you are injured and four, I don't actually have any hypos in my pocket. Now, do you really want to continue with your demands?' I just sat in silence during his rant, grateful for the curtains that surrounded my bio-bed. His words slowly processing through my head until it got to number three.

'What injury, Doctor McCoy?' my voice was polite but still icy. I could not remember getting injured and the thought immediately frightened me as I could usually tell when I get hurt and my inattention scared me a lot.

'The injury to your back. You ripped four tendons, broke three ribs, bruised two and one of the ribs punctured your lung causing it to collapse in your panic attack and of course, not to be outdone, the other lung had fluid in it.'

'Shit, so...'

'We had to operate to set your ribs and reinflate you lung. You can watch the vid if you want...'

Stuttering, 'no, no, I think...'

'Good, now you are going to sleep for the next six hours.'

'But, I am ok now, I need to work.'

'No you need to rest, your shift is long over and your next shift isn't for the next three days. You scared the shit out of me and Jim being unconscious for so long.'

'Um, I don't really want to know but how long have I been out for?'

'You were unconscious for six hours and asleep for another four.'

'What? Why did you not wake me? You would have had to take my shift or get a relief. Shit, I was supposed to go to a meeting with the Captain.' My heart started pounding in my ears, my breathing got laboured and my vision clouded. McCoy's voice shoved its way into my ears and his face loomed in my vision.

'Amelia! Look at me, I need you to calm down on I am going to have to sedate you again.' I tried to calm down but I did not seem to have any control over my body so I was half expecting the sharp prick in the side of my neck and in some ways I relished in it.

Waking up in sickbay again, I wondered how long I had been out this time. I looked down again to check my chronometer but it was still gone and the strange metal bracelet still replaced it. McCoy noticed my activity and walked over.

'Amelia, nice to see you awake, it has only been another five hours.'

'Shit, although I was kind of expecting it, oh crap, oh crap, the Captain...'

'He knows that you are here and he has come down to see you when you were unconscious.'

'You let him in? Why would you let him in to see me in the sickbay?'

'Well he is your Captain, and both of us have been your best friends since you were young and most of all, he cares about you. I am worried too, Amelia.'

'He is my Captain, he shouldn't care for me, and you are my boss. I can look after myself.'

He just rolled his eyes.

'So Doc, when do I get out of here and back to work?'

'You can leave here tomorrow if you are well enough and come back on duty the following day if you pass the testing.'

I love my work but I would be glad of the one day when I could just rest in my rooms, not under the watchful eyes of Doctor McCoy. I also could not disguise my exhaustion even though I had got over fifteen hours of sleep since I had arrived in the sickbay.

'Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you a question, one that has intrigued Jim as well as me. How did you manage to disguise yourself to the computer? I had to do a physical search to find you yesterday because the computer wouldn't work.'

I had completely forgotten about that I had tricked the computer into thinking I had left the ship a few weeks ago but not that I was an intruder, really easy when it comes to using it to hide. I was surprised that Jim Kirk had not thought of doing it. After all he had escaped from sickbay nearly as often as I had and I worked here.

We both had a phobia of doctors, thus why everyone thought it was exceptionally ironic that I became a doctor. I informed Jim that I did not have a problem with doctors and sickbay in general, just when it came to be me being the patient: that is when my fear came out.

Noticing that McCoy had gone, I decided to test my strength and see how exhausted I really was. I sat up slowly, keeping the ebbing dizziness at bay. Small but fierce bouts of dizziness had been plaguing me for the last month and I was starting to get annoyed at myself.

Once I was fully sitting up and my vision was straight and clear I laboriously swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Checking that there was no one quick enough to stop me, I made a quick dash for the door before a voice piped up.

'You walk out that door and you will not stay conscious for long.'

Stopping, just short of the doorway, I turned and spoke, 'and why would that be, _sir_?'

'Because, dear Amelia, that stunning bracelet that you are sporting has a trigger that will inject you with a sedative then send a signal to me so I can carry you right back here. Just a small thing that I had made for you and Jim, 'cept I am not carrying Jim, I will just drag his sorry ass back.'

We both laughed then McCoy finished.

'You will not get far if you run but you can try if you wish, although you may not like the consequences.'

'Consequences, sir?'

'Waking up in the sickbay for the third time in two days, except this time you will be restrained.'

I just laughed and spun quickly towards the door before faltering. My gaze kept spinning even after my body had stopped. I staggered into the strong, capable arms of my long friend, James T. Kirk, who with McCoy's help carried me to the nearby empty bio bed. I could not hear the words but registered their tone of worry and concern. Instead I thought about the fact that with my two closest friends watching, I had dashed all hopes of escape to normalcy by faltering on the last hurdle.

**Finis**


End file.
